Buggsy2
Well Known Member
I bought and just installed all 3 AntiSplatAero products to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic nose gear failure for the A models.
First one, the Nose Wheel Bearing Mod, is easy enough: pack your nose tube, tire, wheel halves, U-623 axle adapters and associated bolts, washers, nuts, etc. (but not the heavy WD-630 castoring fork) and ship to AntiSplat for them to apply their mod. They replace the bearings with sealed bearings, round the tire and dynamically balance everything and ship it back assembled, ready for bolting into the castoring fork. I can't compare to the Vans' version since I had this done during my build.
Second product is The Nose Job, a brace attached to the nose gear leg. The brace should reduce the likelihood of a plastic bend in the nose leg if the fork digs into the ground. If a plastic bend does happen it shifts up towards the cowl, reducing the probability of nose-over. This was easy to assemble on the nose leg following the video instructions. However the parts included an extra piece which looked like a gap filler, puzzling since it wasn't in the video. I called AntiSplat to see what this was for, and was told it was just a temporary assist piece for use only during the install. I didn't use it, finding it just as easy to install the brace directly without the piece. I primed and painted mine with Krylon, not sure if this is necessary since the brace and clamp looked like stainless steel. Also, I think I'm going to go back and apply Lockthread to the bolt threads to make sure the nuts don't back out. Took about an hour to install, including phone call.
Final product is the Lip-Skid, another stainless steel part that is inserted into the bottom of the fork below where the nose gear leg goes in from the top. Fortunately I hadn't drilled the gear leg yet for the cotter pin that secures the MS21025-20 nut, because it turns out to get the Lip-Skid properly anchored the cotter pin has to be nearly parallel to the wings (perpendicular to fuselage axis) to insert the pin and bend the ends. If you've drilled your cotter pin already to secure the large axle nut, and it's not in the right place, I guess you'd have to drill through the face of the Lip-Skid to insert it. This process took about an hour also.
All three products are pretty easy to install, with the caveats above, and clearly well thought out. Not cheap but if you see the videos on their website they've done a lot of thinking and testing of these things which has to be paid for. Compared to the total cost of the build, and the cost of a nose-over, they're cheap!
First one, the Nose Wheel Bearing Mod, is easy enough: pack your nose tube, tire, wheel halves, U-623 axle adapters and associated bolts, washers, nuts, etc. (but not the heavy WD-630 castoring fork) and ship to AntiSplat for them to apply their mod. They replace the bearings with sealed bearings, round the tire and dynamically balance everything and ship it back assembled, ready for bolting into the castoring fork. I can't compare to the Vans' version since I had this done during my build.
Second product is The Nose Job, a brace attached to the nose gear leg. The brace should reduce the likelihood of a plastic bend in the nose leg if the fork digs into the ground. If a plastic bend does happen it shifts up towards the cowl, reducing the probability of nose-over. This was easy to assemble on the nose leg following the video instructions. However the parts included an extra piece which looked like a gap filler, puzzling since it wasn't in the video. I called AntiSplat to see what this was for, and was told it was just a temporary assist piece for use only during the install. I didn't use it, finding it just as easy to install the brace directly without the piece. I primed and painted mine with Krylon, not sure if this is necessary since the brace and clamp looked like stainless steel. Also, I think I'm going to go back and apply Lockthread to the bolt threads to make sure the nuts don't back out. Took about an hour to install, including phone call.
Final product is the Lip-Skid, another stainless steel part that is inserted into the bottom of the fork below where the nose gear leg goes in from the top. Fortunately I hadn't drilled the gear leg yet for the cotter pin that secures the MS21025-20 nut, because it turns out to get the Lip-Skid properly anchored the cotter pin has to be nearly parallel to the wings (perpendicular to fuselage axis) to insert the pin and bend the ends. If you've drilled your cotter pin already to secure the large axle nut, and it's not in the right place, I guess you'd have to drill through the face of the Lip-Skid to insert it. This process took about an hour also.
All three products are pretty easy to install, with the caveats above, and clearly well thought out. Not cheap but if you see the videos on their website they've done a lot of thinking and testing of these things which has to be paid for. Compared to the total cost of the build, and the cost of a nose-over, they're cheap!
